Tabcorp calls for more restrictions on foreign online gambling operators

Speaking to analysts and media following the release of Tabcorp’s latest results Friday , CEO David Attenborough urged the Australian government to impose restrictions on offshore internet gambling operators marketing online gaming to Australians.

”An offshore operator should not be allowed to take an Australian resident bet,” he said, according to a report in BusinessDay.

”Some countries around the world have dealt with this by just making it illegal for an [offshore] gambling company or operator to take bets from their citizens. France has instituted that, so now we don’t take any French bets.”

Attenborough’s digital division did well last year, but company profits weakened, which may be the cause for the sensitivity around foreign operators.

The company already faces some formidable opposition in the Aussie online gambling market, with Bet365, Paddy Power and William Hill-Sportingbet-Waterhouse all active and expanding.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping – currently in Australia to seal the Waterhouse deal – had his own view on Tabcorp, calling it a ”comfortable monopoly”.

”We are keen to take on comfortable monopolies,” Topping said with typical forthrightness. ”I don’t think they have a place in the modern world. Monopolies often mean weak management, weak performance.”

Nevertheless, Topping reportedly backed the call for tighter regulation of offshore gambling, saying: ”You have a situation where Australians are betting overseas with underground operations on the internet. That is not good for the consumer.”

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